Vaporizing devices, including electronic vaporizer devices or e-vaporizer devices, allow the delivery of vapor containing one or more active ingredient by inhalation of the vapor. Electronic vaporizer devices are gaining increasing popularity both for prescriptive medical use, in delivering medicaments, and for consumption of tobacco and other plant-based smokeable materials. Electronic vaporizer devices in particular may be portable, self-contained and convenient for use. Unfortunately, such devices, even when adapted for medical use, may vary in the amount of vapor and/or active ingredient provided.
To date, attempts to determine the dosage of vapor and/or an active ingredient in the vapor have been unsatisfactory. Systems that pre-determine dosage by restricting the amount of material to be delivered in a session assume, often incorrectly, that all of the material will be inhaled, and may not be adjustable for partial dosages. Such systems may also meter the amount of material, and require accurate measurement of the mass and/or volume of material being delivered for vaporization, or measure the difference between a starting mass/volume and post-delivery mass or volume. These measurements may be difficult, requiring a high level of accuracy and expense, and may result in inaccurate results.
What is needed is a method and apparatus (e.g., system and/or device) for delivering vapor and accurately, e.g., within a reasonable margin of accuracy/error, the delivered dosage. In particular, it would be helpful to provide methods and apparatuses for determining delivered doses of vapor and/or ingredients within the vapor by monitoring the electrical activity, and in some cases the temperature (which may be estimated electrically or measured directly) of the apparatus. Further, it would be helpful to provide such methods and apparatuses to deliver predetermined doses and/or to alert a use or caregiver when a threshold dosage has been reached or exceeded. Further, it may also be helpful to provide an electronic record of doses delivered.